Guests: Paul Brodek; Scott Kasper

It’s the week before the Thanksgiving holiday here in the U.S. and some folks are celebrating while others are licking their wounds.

I for one am grateful for the weather that has been warm enough to ride right up until this weekend here in the NE Ohio area and for the great guests we will introduce you to this evening.

First, we meet Paul Brodek. Paul goes WAY back in our industry – back to the early days when Sun Tour, Shimano, AND Campagnolo were all headquartered in New Jersey.

Paul decided in his senior year at Rutgers that maybe what he was thinking wasn’t what he really wanted, and so turned his attention to the bicycle business, putting his college career on extended hold..

He worked for Sun Tour USA and was right in the thick of it when index shifting began to change the world of bicycle components forever.

As the story unfolds, Paul has amazing recall of events and people throughout the 80’s including a fascinating dinner in Asia where Paul learns some unsavory Japanese fueled by competition and booze.

In the end, Shimano emerges victorious as the sun in Sun Tour sets and Paul is one of the few people who knows the story from beginning to end.

In the second half of the show this evening, I catch up with Scott Kasper as he prepares to ride theEl Tour de Tucson with 200 JDRF riders.

Scott is intimately involved with Type I diabetes as two of this three sons, his mother, and his sister-in-law all suffer from the disease. Scott became immersed in the cause of searching for a cure and tells us his story along with an excellent explanation of the disease, what research is in the works, and what breakthroughs have been made.